Nearly 500 car meets took place across UK - Hampshire police snubs request for data
There were nearly 500 unauthorised car meets across the country during the past year with Portsmouth no stranger to the “chaos” inflicted during the events.
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Figures obtained by The AA show at least 484 unauthorised meets had taken place across the UK up to mid-October this year. Last year, at least 503 unauthorised car meets were held, as well as a minimum of 377 in 2021.
Only 13 out of 45 UK’s police forces could provide figures following a freedom of information (FOI) request by the UK’s leading motoring organisation. Hampshire Police was among those to snub the request.
A catalogue of events have seen officers deployed in recent months. A meet of around 200 cars on October 27 in Winchester led to nine vehicles being seized while in September officers were pelted with stones near Southsea Common after a 500-strong meet that covered parts of Hampshire concluded in Portsmouth.
Arguably the worst incident in recent times took place in January last year when a Mazda lost control during a meet at Voyager Park industrial estate in Portsmouth before hitting four people - leaving two females seriously injured.
The AA said that of forces that could supply figures, Nottinghamshire Police experienced the largest number of car meets, with 134 so far this year – on target to beat last years’ total of 136. Gwent Police have so far had 130 incidents, up from 96 events in 2022 and 52 the year before.
In addition to the FOI, a 10,000 poll of AA members found that one in 10 had seen an increase in unauthorised meets in their neighbourhood over the last 12 months, with the South East (14%), West Midlands (12%), East Midlands and Eastern England (both 11%) exceeding the national average.
Of those that had experienced more events in their area, eight out of 10 (80%) said one of the consequences was excess noise, while 71% said there have been more vehicles racing on the roads. Similarly, three fifths (61%) say there have been large congregations of vehicles meeting up at night, while more than half (55%) say there have been tyre marks left in car parks due to drivers showing off, excessively revving and burning their tyres, as well as doing doughnuts [spinning the vehicle at high revs while in full-lock, causing a circular shape].
Worryingly, a quarter say there are more damaged streetlights and signposts due to the increase in events, and a fifth say there have been more crashes due to the unauthorised meets. Local authorities and police are taking measures to tackle the rise in car meets by carrying out more patrols, introducing signage and using anti-social behaviour dispersal laws to discourage them from taking place.
Jack Cousens, head of roads policy for The AA, said: “Far from the cry of legal car meet events, where enthusiasts show off their pride and joy, these anti-social pop-up cruises are causing havoc and chaos within neighbourhoods.
“Many events are arranged on social media to keep police in the dark until frustrated residents phone up to report the activities. Even then, it is a mixed picture regarding if the police will show up to disperse the meet. While there are dispersal orders available to forces to help break up the show, only a handful exist.
“It is deeply concerning that these cruises are being used by some to drive dangerously, and in some cases causing harm to bystanders and damaging property.
“One way to tackle the problem is to have more cops in cars who can attend and disperse the crowd. As part of the government’s road safety strategy, it could hire 1,000 more traffic officers to help improve road safety and police the roads.”